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This Smartphone Will Use Wi-Fi Hotspots Whenever Possible

Los Angeles, California-based wireless Internet and mobile service provider FreedomPop is working with Intel to introduce a Wi-Fi-first smartphone. The phone will be equipped with Intel's low-cost SoFIA Atom x3 processors to make use of WiFi hotspots rather than mobile data whenever possible. The phones will use mobile data even for things like texting and calling.

This Wi-Fi-first smartphone is capable of easily switching between Wi-Fi and cellular networks without the user's experience being affected in any way.

Broadly speaking, this smartphone is looking to cause a fundamental shift in the way we think about phones. Until now, we think of using our phones while focusing first on mobile data, and we switch to Wi-Fi whenever it's available -- but FreedomPop and Intel are working to reverse that equation.